'Get your udders out' - and what it cost the boss who said it

The boss defended his actions by motioning as about to clasp her breasts, saying: "It's not like I grabbed your ..." Photo / Thinkstock

A woman working at a warrant of fitness centre was advised to "get your udders out" by the boss.

The Employment Relations Authority was told he also pulled her ponytail and pinched her back. Then, he defended his actions by motioning as about to clasp her breasts, saying: "It's not like I grabbed your ..."

When she told management at national car-testing firm VTNZ, they failed to adequately address her complaint, the ERA has found.

The boss who harassed her has held on to his job, and VTNZ spokeswoman Melissa Jordan said this week: "From our position we are incredibly surprised by the finding so we are now considering our right of appeal."

Katherine Spake said she'd had enough of being spoken to in the manner that she suffered at VTNZ. Instead, she's speaking out in the hope of helping other women who were sexually harassed. "It is important to speak up loud and clear, and if you're not confident, to ask someone for help," Spake told the Herald on Sunday, after the ERA ordered VTNZ to pay her $10,500 compensation and more than eight months' salary.

Spake was working at the Hewlett Road VTNZ testing station in Tauranga when trouble started with station manager Keith Johnston. Around August 2010, he walked past her desk and touched her ponytail. He said the pulling was done in jest. The ERA also heard that Johnston pinched Spake's back.

VTNZ Bay of Plenty manager Gavin McNaught told Johnston the hair-touching was inappropriate and not to be repeated.

But in March last year, Johnston called Spake into his office, closed the door, and raised the touching incident. Johnston told the ERA he initiated this meeting to apologise to Spake - a claim the authority found unbelievable.

Instead, the ERA said Johnston was concerned about office gossip ruining his reputation. He then made a rude gesture, saying: "It's not like I grabbed your ..."

The situation was inflamed only a week later while she was on the phone to a friend, planning a cowgirl-themed hen party. Johnston said: "You don't need a costume Kate, you can go along mooing ... You know, like a cow. Then you can get your udders out."

Spake increasingly suffered from stress, anxiety and sleep deprivation. She lodged an internal complaint, which the authority said VTNZ failed to adequately address.

"I should have been able to rely on VTNZ to have dealt with Mr Johnston's inappropriate behaviour but because of a situation with a former colleague and her dismissal, and the boss in question being moved sideways, I had no trust in the HR department," she wrote.

Spake had taken sick leave on the advice of doctors, but VTNZ demanded she return to work. When she refused, she was sacked.

Johnston said this week that he knew nothing about the ERA determination and wouldn't be able to comment.

Advocate Rachel Ralston said Spake's ERA finding was a victory for harassed women who endured chauvinism.

She said Spake had stood up for her rights against overwhelming odds.

Tauranga lawyer Warwick Reid added: "Cases of reimbursement for economic loss as a result of psychological injury are exceedingly rare in New Zealand, especially in the private sector."

VTNZ has until March 2 to appeal the decision.